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Part 19: The Rules (IRON MAIDEN – The First Ten Years box set gallery!)

RECORD STORE TALES Part 19: The Rules

After a few years had gone by, there were too many damn rules to follow. There were so many, we literally had books full of them, with new rules being added regularly. It was pure insanity, because you had to remember some rule that was made (for example) 26 months ago. Not to mention if you dug far enough back, you could find rules that contradicted each other. It was like telling a dog to sit and come at the same time, you can’t do it.

One rule that stood firm was: “Thou Shalt Not Buy Product From a Sister Store“.

We had a complex structure of locations, but under no circumstances could a staff member buy product from a store that had a different owner. Their product was for their customers and not for us to pillage. But, when one of those owners who was a friend, sees the Iron Maiden First Ten Years box set come in, they call you to tell you. The rules meant nothing at that point. There were greater goals at hand.

This ultra-rare box was issued in 1990, as 10 discs, all sold separately. You could also get them on vinyl. I recall seeing a few of them, on 12″ vinyl, at my local Sam The Record Man (run by the near-legendary Al King) during one of my many teenage record store excursions.

CDs are my preferred format today. Collect all ten of the Maiden singles, and you could send away for the box that contains them. Obviously, a complete set is a rare find. This set came in complete, as is. I still have the receipt. I paid $135.99 on Oct 7, 2003. (With taxes, $156.39.)

It was worth every penny, but it was also worth the shit I caught for buying it from another owner. And did I get in shit for it!

At best, I was bending the rules. At best! I paid full price (no discount!), the owner himself rang it in, and he was happily on board with making a quick buck. He even personally delivered it to Kitchener. He could have simply said, “No”. He didn’t. Now, I take responsibility for my actions, but an owner has a lot more say in things than I do. I didn’t deserve what happened next.

A higher-up stormed into my store, pulled me into the office, slammed the door, and yelled. And yelled. And pointed a lot, and yelled some more.

It was a weird feeling. Here I was getting screamed at so much that the dogs could hear it 4 miles away, but also elated about my Iron Maiden find at the exact same time. It was like I didn’t know if I should be happy or pissed off! It’s like any time you see someone trying so hard not to smile.

I pulled it off. I also owned the fucking Iron Maiden First Ten Years box set!

Their big argument was “It’s a bad example to the employees”. But really, that wasn’t an issue. No employees knew about it — not one! — until they made a big show of it by yelling at me in store! The one that said I was a bad example, was the one who let the cat out of the bag.

I walked out of the office, head hanging, but then when out of sight, grinning ear to ear. Of course the two people who overheard the whole thing asked about it afterwards. Dandy Douche asked, “Do you think it was worth it? Would you do it again?” I said, “Absolutely. But next time I’m wearing a beard and a moustache, the whole disguise, and buying it in person!”

Unfortunately I never had the chance to do that. The Iron Maiden box set was one of the last big big items from my “holy grail list.” that came in.

Each disc contains two singles, plus an unreleased 10 minute interview with Nicko. One on every disc. They are called “Listen With Nicko!” parts I through X. Well worth the money, Nicko is friggin’ hilarious.

All singles included are complete (except Maiden Japan), plus a “Listen With Nicko!” bonus track. And again, you had to buy these all separately! On import! And according to the terms on the mail-in card, only UK residents could order the boxes to house the discs. Another thing I found interesting was that you had to mail in all ten slips in order to get the box. Whoever owned my box previously still has nine of his ten slips! (I am missing #9, “Can I Play With Madness” / “The Evil That Men Do”.) This can only make my box set rarer and more desirable to collectors.

Yes it was a once in a lifetime type find for sure. Incidentally Nicko also released a single called “Rhythms of the Beast” with Dave Murray on guitar, and the B-side of that was called “McBrain Damage”, and it was another 10 minute type story with Nicko. Very funny but hard to find. I only own it on a bootleg CD.

Got a signed 7″ of this (and a signed white Nicko T-Shirt) from the Drum Clinic Nicko did in Manchester on he tour he did to promote this and his instructional drum video from the time. Got great memories from the night where he showed us his Seventh Son era kit and soloed on it and told us stories and then made sure we all got to shake his hand at the end. I’ll not forget sitting about 3 metres from his kit as he laid in to some of his trademark “fast-foot” action. Great stuff.

Thanks man, Nicko is a delight to his fans and generally very good with “the people”, unlike some of the other chaps in Maiden who seem to shrink away from public life in that capacity. That said, I was lucky enough to get a few minutes with Bruce Dickinson with my family (the missus was a very happy bunny that day!) a couple of months back at a book signing and he came across as a nice guy, albeit a nice guy with obviously 50,000 concurrent thoughts going on in his head at any one time!

I know a guy who worked at an HMV in London during a summer job. Bruce happened to come in one day. He approached Bruce, who was cool about it, he just asked that he keep it quiet that he was there. Bruce was shopping with his son.

The Listen With Nicko tracks are absolute comedy gold! Me and my mates used to listen to these constantly. Mission From ‘Arry is another hilarious track on here. Definitely worth the bollocking you got!

Wow! I’ve never seen a complete box anywhere else since but I’ve seen the occasional copy of the individual 12inches. I’ve got the CD box, I picked it up 2nd-hand in the mid 90s at an excellently named shop, Valhalla. I think it set me back about £40! It’s quite a find. A lot of the stuff is available on the Eddie’s Box set now but you don’t get the Listen With Nickos on that!

Where can I find RSS feeds for posts and comments? I like reading your blog but really need RSS feeds. Please email me since I doubt I will find a reply here—I’m still wondering how I got to this comment box.

Hey Phillip, I have to be honest with you — I have no idea! Maybe that’s something I need to look into. I’ve never used RSS feeds myself so I’ve never even considered it before. Maybe one of my fellow bloggers can help me out with that question. Anyway I thank you for reading, I’ll definitely look into this and see what I can learn. Cheers, Mike

philliphelbig commented: “Where can I find RSS feeds for posts and comments? I like reading your blog but really need RSS feeds. Please email me since I doubt I will find a reply here—I’m still wondering how I got to this comment box.”

Thanks Deke! It’s truly a great collection. Even if you buy all the Maiden 2-CD deluxe editions that I have, you won’t get all the B-sides that this set contains. You also won’t get the special Listen With Nicko segments.

It is. I thought I had reviewed them both already, but I have not. I was doing research this morning for my upcoming Seasons End review and I was surprised I hadn’t reviewed those singles box sets. They are really great. All tracks from all formats are included. Marillion were doing that thing that bands do more commonly day — different tracks on 7″, 12″, CD, etc.

Listen with Nicko is hilarious and if you listen now, it’s made oddly more funny by the fact that it’s (in this day and age) seemingly quite politically incorrect. Still, that set was big news back in the day and did set the precedent for Bomber and Rod to rerelease singles we’d all bought before.

I missed out on most of the early singles. My single collection started with Run to the Hills. For me this was the perfect way to finally get them all! The Maiden 1995 deluxe editions didn’t have all the B-sides.

Yes it sure did. I didn’t know that was the official title. But I have it on the Fear of the Dark 2 CD edition. It’s there unlisted as part of Space Station No. 5. Sadly I know just about every word of “Bayswater Ain’t a Bad Place To Be”.

He’s right though. Nobody writes songs about golf. They would have cornered the market.

Not sure if those ever came out in UK. Is that correct? I missed that and got the 1998 remasters in the UK. Here I am wearing my silk, bloody satin, whatever the bloody ‘ell it is without that edition on the shelf at home or in meeeee Raaaaaaange Rooover!